The Trump Order
In sheepshead, 14 of the 32 cards are trump. From the top they rank Q♣ Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ J♣ J♠ J♥ J♦ A♦ 10♦ K♦ 9♦ 8♦ 7♦: every queen, then every jack, then the rest of the diamonds. The queen of clubs is the best card in the game, and nothing beats it.
All fourteen, with their points
| Rank | Card | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q♣ | 3 |
| 2 | Q♠ | 3 |
| 3 | Q♥ | 3 |
| 4 | Q♦ | 3 |
| 5 | J♣ | 2 |
| 6 | J♠ | 2 |
| 7 | J♥ | 2 |
| 8 | J♦ | 2 |
| 9 | A♦ | 11 |
| 10 | 10♦ | 10 |
| 11 | K♦ | 4 |
| 12 | 9♦ | 0 |
| 13 | 8♦ | 0 |
| 14 | 7♦ | 0 |
| Trump in total | 45 |
Two patterns carry the whole list. The queens and the jacks each run in the same suit order: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds, so the black ones come first and diamonds come last. The diamonds below them run ace, ten, king, nine, eight, seven, which puts the ten above the king. That is not a misprint. In sheepshead the ten outranks the king in every suit.
Queens and jacks have left their suits
The J♥ is trump. It is not a heart, it never follows a heart lead, and it does not count as holding a heart. The same goes for every queen and every jack. The quickest way to stop making this mistake is to sort your hand the moment you pick it up: queens and jacks go with the diamonds, at the trump end, and only then do you look at what is left in each plain suit. The following suit page walks through what this means when a card is led.
The fail suits
Clubs, spades and hearts, with their queens and jacks gone, are the fail suits (some tables say “off” suits). Each holds six cards ranked A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7, and each is worth 25 points. Any trump, even the 7♦, beats any fail card, even an ace.
| Fail suit | Cards, highest first | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Clubs | A 10 K 9 8 7 | 25 |
| Spades | A 10 K 9 8 7 | 25 |
| Hearts | A 10 K 9 8 7 | 25 |
Power and points are two different scales
The A♦ is only the ninth strongest trump, yet it carries 11 points, nearly as much as all four queens put together (12). The queens are the strongest cards in the deck and among the cheapest. That split is the heart of the game: trump wins tricks, aces and tens score them. It is why you judge a hand by its trump and why the points end up being thrown onto tricks rather than won with. More on that under card points and schmearing.
Two example tricks
- A trump lead. The 9♦ is led and the others play J♠, A♦, Q♥ and 10♦. The Q♥ wins, because it is the highest trump in the trick, and it collects 0 + 2 + 11 + 3 + 10 = 26 points.
- A fail lead. The K♥ is led. The next players play A♥, J♥, 9♥ and 7♣. The J♥ wins: it is trump, and that player had no hearts left. The ace of hearts was the best heart, but a heart cannot beat a trump. The trick is worth 4 + 11 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 17.
Not the same order as Schafkopf
In German Schafkopf, the ancestor of sheepshead, the ordinary game makes hearts the trump suit below the queens and jacks, not diamonds. American sheepshead settled on diamonds. The Schafkopf comparison covers the rest of the differences.
Related
- Card points and counting to 61
- Do you have to follow suit?
- Counting trump during a hand
- How many cards are in sheepshead
- Trump, in the glossary
Play a hand
Sheepshead Club is free, with no ads and no account needed. Play a first hand with the coach beside you (about three minutes), or sit down at a table with computer players or real people.